Secretary, Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi chairs a review meeting of United Nations World Food Programme

Newdelhi:26/9/24:Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Dr Devesh Chaturvedi chaired a meeting of the Country Programme Advisory Committee (CPAC) to review the implementation of the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023-2027 with representatives of the United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP) and members from concerned Ministries/Departments.

To address the national priorities in food security and nutrition through capacity building and technical support, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and the United Nations World Food Programme. Under the MoU, the CSP 2023-27 addresses four strategic outcomes which include (i) more effective and efficient national food-based social protection systems; (ii) increasing consumption of diverse, nutritious, and fortified foods; (iii) enhancing the social and financial mobility of women; and (iv) strengthening the adaptive capacity to build climate-resilient livelihoods and food systems.

To coordinate and review the progress on initiatives under the Country Strategic Plan, a Country Programme Advisory Committee has been constituted under the chairperson of Dr Devesh Chaturvedi and Joint Secretaries of concerned Ministries and NITI Aayog as its members. The committee meets at least annually.  This was the first meeting of CPAC under CSP 2023-27 to review and discuss the progress and accomplishments of the ongoing Country Strategic Plan (CSP).

The Country Director of WFP Ms Elizabeth Faure informed the committee about the status of various targeted outcomes of the CSP. WFP informed about various ongoing initiatives which include transforming agriculture and enhancing food security for smallholder farmers in states like Assam, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh; nationwide efforts for mainstreaming millets; building resilience in fishing communities through the ‘Secure Fishing’ App; initiative for optimizing the Public Distribution System (PDS); Annapurti initiative provides grain ATMs; school nutri-gardens; and rice fortification etc

.Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi highlighted that the department and WFP have maintained a long-standing partnership, driven by shared goal of achieving food and nutrition security. He suggested the officers identify the scalable interventions and initiatives and prepare mechanisms for including the same in ongoing programmes of ministries/departments. He further advised WFP to organise a one-day workshop to present and discuss the important initiatives and pilots exclusively in the Agriculture Sector with officers of the department. He also emphasised that while accessing the nutritional outcomes of the programmes we should also look at the standards of nutrition applicable to the Indian population. Along with ongoing fortified varieties of different cereals, existing local varieties of red and black rice and millet, which are nutritious, should also be popularised. He also advised exploring the possibilities of bringing the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) into different initiatives.

The meeting was also attended by officers and representatives from D/o Food & Public Distribution, M/o Women and Child Development, D/o Rural Development, M/o Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, D/o School Education & Literacy, M/o External Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority, India Meteorological Department and M/o Earth Sciences.